Note: This edition includes Weekly Recap below

Top Stories and Commentary for Friday, August 1st, 2008

Editorial/New York Times

Civil rights groups have begun a welcome attack on a House bill that would temporarily exempt the states from the all-important accountability requirements in the No Child Left Behind Act, which was signed into law in 2002. The attack, led by powerful groups like the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, was unexpected, given that the nation’s two big teachers’ unions actually hold seats on the conference’s executive committee. Recent events suggest that the civil rights establishment generally is ready to break with the teachers’ unions and take an independent stand on education reform.

Editorial/Oakland Tribune

Scores on standardized tests in California public schools have consequences for individual schools and districts. Low marks can lead to greater outside scrutiny, reduced revenues, loss of public esteem or even a takeover by the state. But the scores have no consequences for students. Standardized tests are not used to compute grades or decide promotions nor are they used as in college applications. As a result, students too often do not take the tests seriously and don’t put forth their best efforts to do well. To correct that situation, state Sen. Elaine Alquist, D-Santa Clara, has written Senate Bill 170s to do well and boost test scores.

By Imran Vittachi/Riverside Press-Enterprise

The State Board of Education’s decision this month to make algebra instruction and testing compulsory for all eighth-graders in California within three years poses a challenge for San Jacinto Unified schools. Two-thirds of middle school students in the district have struggled with learning math, a school district official said. Marianna Vinson, the district’s curriculum and instruction director, acknowledged in an interview that most students entering the eighth-grade this coming school year aren’t ready to take algebra classes to prepare them for the state-standardized Algebra I test the following spring.

By Mary Ann Zehr/Ed Week

Sibling rivalry doesn’t seem to be part of the picture as 17-year-old Milton Quinteros and 18-year-old Transito Quinteros work to improve their English this summer. The brother and sister, who moved here with their family from El Salvador about a year ago, consistently pair up during activities in their summer English-as-a-second-language class—a five-hour-a-day, six-week reading class at Park View High School in this suburban Virginia community about a 30-mile drive west of the nation’s capital. Milton Quinteros, who will attend 9th grade this fall at Potomac Falls High School, credits the advice of a teacher last school year for why he and his sister, who starts 11th grade this fall, are taking the summer classes.

By Kathleen Kennedy Manzo/Ed Week

States that have worked individually to set rigorous academic standards for high school students have inadvertently subscribed to a “common core” of expectations in English/language arts and mathematics, an analysis by Achieve has found. The apparent agreement among a “critical mass” of states on the kinds of complex knowledge and skills students need to master in those subjects suggests, according to the report, that a state-led effort toward creating common standards is feasible. “There is a clearly identifiable common core across the states. It’s not that they have identical standards, but there’s a high degree of commonality,” said Michael Cohen, the president of Achieve, a Washington-based organization that promotes rigorous state standards.

By Mary Tedrow/Teacher Magazine

I was 13-years-old in 1968 when President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law. Having literally grown up during the Civil Rights Movement, I have always considered myself—52, white, female, public school teacher—enlightened when it comes to issues of race. But an event at my high school concurrent with the Barack Obama-Jeremiah Wright national discussion left me feeling uncomfortably aware that I may not have fairly acknowledged or explored issues of race in America. At school, a student challenged her English teacher for reading the “N” word aloud in class. They were reading I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

Editorial/Contra Costa Times

Several members of the California Legislature have decided to become public school curriculum directors, especially in history. They have offered a number of bills that would mandate that particular pieces of California and U.S. history be taught in our schools. Most of the additions would be welcome to history lessons. One bill would require that a landmark 1946 California school desegregation case be added to history lessons. Another bill seeks to add more information about the role of Filipino Americans who fought in the U.S. Army during World War II.

Blog by John Fensterwald/San Jose Mercury News

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is right in principle: Legislators shouldn’t dictate what is or isn’t taught in public schools. They should leave that up to advisory committees reporting to the state Board of Education, which has the final say-so. But in vetoing SB 908, the governor put principle ahead of the facts. He made a political statement and ignored the details of the bill. SB 908 would have required including instruction on global warming in K-12. For better or worse — probably for the better, in this case — the Legislature already had inserted itself in the science curriculum. In 2003, it passed AB 1548, sponsored by then Assemblywoman Fran Pavley of Agoura Hills.

Also Noted for Friday, August 1st, 2008:

By George B. Sánchez/LA Daily News

After long negotiations, last-minute changes and criticism from members of its own bond oversight committee, the Los Angeles Unified School District board unanimously decided Thursday to put a $7 billion bond measure on the November ballot.

The bond would be the biggest in LAUSD history and would bring local charter schools an unprecedented source of wealth.

It is expected to cover 10 years of growth, although it only represents a dent in the some $60 billion in construction that district officials say will ultimately be needed over the long term.

Graduation at low speed in LAUSD
Más alumnos terminan la secundaria en LAUSD, pero no tantos como se esperaba.
More students finish high school in the LAUSD, but not as many as expected.
By Rubén Moreno/La Opinión

Tras el primer año cumplido después de que la junta directiva del Distrito Escolar Unificado de Los Angeles (LAUSD) marcara la meta de llegar al 100% de graduación en 2015, los resultados iniciales no han sido demasiado buenos. Hace un año, Mónica García, presidenta de la junta y promotora de aquella medida, señaló que curso tras curso el LAUSD tendría que ir mejorando para alcanzar ese objetivo, aumentado el índice de graduación.
One year after the LAUSD Board established a goal of reach a 100% graduation rate by 2015, the initial results aren’t very good. A year ago, Mónica García, President of the Board, and author of the measure, said that year after year, the LAUSD would have to irmprove its graduation rates, in order to achieve this goal.

By Kimberly S. Wetzel/West Contra Costa Times

West Contra Costa school district workers have a perk that many employers no longer offer: lifetime retiree health benefits. But that comes at a high cost to the district: an estimated $495 million, which covers benefits for all currently eligible employees and their spouses and amounts to almost twice the district’s annual operating budget. According to a recent study on the issue presented to the school board this week, the estimated cost will grow to $727 million once currently ineligible employees become eligible.

By Kamika Dunlap/Oakland Tribune

A new study shows the East Bay is leading the Bay Area in increasing poverty levels, low living-wage job opportunities, decline of housing affordability and sinking high school graduation rates. These were among the findings released Thursday by the East Bay Community Foundation. Their 2008 East Bay Community Assessment Update is a "study of studies," based on a review of data from 58 other reports focused on barriers to justice and equity, as well as solutions to improve quality of life issues for East Bay residents. The study highlights trends in Alameda and Contra Costa counties, including the emerging "hourglass economy," where new jobs are divided between low-wage, low-skill jobs and high-wage jobs, with little growth of living-wage jobs in the middle.

USA Today

In the Navajo language, there’s no one word that translates into "go" — it’s more like a sentence. "There are so many ways of ‘going,"’ said Evangeline Parsons Yazzie, a Navajo professor at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. "It states who is going, how many of us are going, where are we going. So the tense, the adverb, the subject, the number of people, all of that is tied up in one little tiny verb."

WEEKLY RECAP - Monday July 28 through Thursday August 1st, 2008

By Peter Hecht/Sacramento Bee (Monday)

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said "no" Friday to a proposed new law seeking to reward middle and high school students with prizes and other perks for earning good scores on standardized tests. In a veto message, the governor didn’t reject the idea of doling out nonmonetary payola to kids who score high marks or show significant improvement on state tests. But he said no new law is needed. Sen. Elaine Alquist, a Santa Clara Democrat, said she wanted to provide "recognition and motivation and incentive to achieve" on state Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) exams.

By Mike Dorsey/Contra Costa Times (Monday)

How many students know that a 1946 California court case on segregation actually set a precedent for the widely heralded Brown v. Board of Education? The case of Mendez v. Westminster is one of the great triumphs in California legal history — five Latino parents challenged a white private school in court for admission and won, leading to desegregation of all schools in the state. "All Californians should be proud that we were the first state in the nation to desegregate," said Assemblywoman Mary Salas, D-Chula Vista. Still, their tale is completely left out of textbooks in California’s public school system. Salas would like the story to be told in history classes across the state.

Measures against Affirmative Action
Ward Connerly presenta propuestas en Arizona, Nebraska y Colorado.
Ward Connerly introduces propositions in Arizona, Nebraska and Colorado.
By Pilar Marrero/La Opinión (Tuesday)

Doce años después de que su Iniciativa 209, aprobada por los votantes de California, eliminara los programas de Acción Afirmativa en el estado, Ward Connerly vuelve a la carga con sendas propuestas en otros tres estados del país, Arizona, Nebraska y Colorado. Su organización, Civil Rights Institute, con sede en Sacramento, también intentó colocar medidas similares en las boletas de Oklahoma y Missouri, pero no se lograron suficientes firmas.
Twelve years after his Proposition 209 which was approved by California voters and eliminated Affirmative Action programs in the state, Ward Connerly returns with similar proposals in three other states, Arizona, Nebraska and Colorado. His organization, the Civil Rights Institute, headquartered in Sacramento, also attempted to place similar ballot measures in Oklahoma and Missouri but they were unable to gather enough signatures.

By Michael Dabney/La Prensa San Diego (Tuesday)

Building upon the success of its BioBridge science education outreach program, the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) has this summer launched an enhanced initiative to further bring the excitement of scientific research directly into area high school classrooms. The new program has an interesting twist: participating UCSD doctoral students in research benefit as much as high school teachers and students. Called the Socrates Fellows program, the project—recently funded through a five-year $3 million GK-12 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF)—pairs high school science teachers with UCSD doctoral students who are currently working in active research laboratories at the university under the guidance of faculty researchers.

Blog by Eddy Ramírez/U.S. News and World Report (Wednesday)

When it comes to education, California likes to be ahead of most trends. But sometimes state lawmakers get a little carried away. Last week, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed two separate bills that, for better or for worse, would have firmly cemented California’s reputation as an education trendsetter. One bill would have required schools to carve out time specifically for teaching kids about climate change; the other would have allowed teachers to hand out rewards—possibly movie and restaurant coupons or tickets to concerts and sporting events—for good scores on standardized tests.

State claims own measure bests ‘No Child’ formula.
By Kristofer Noceda/Daily Review (Wednesday)

Just over two-thirds of California’s high school students earned a diploma during the 2006-07 school year, according to graduation rates released Tuesday by the state Department of Education. The new information is the latest installment of the "most accurate" data from the state, which uses a formula that relies on the Statewide Student Identifiers, or SSIDs, tracking system put in place two years ago. Earlier this month, officials released high school dropout rates, which also were determined using the new analysis.

Community schools suffer from large drop-out rates.
By Cynthia E. Griffin/Our Weekly (Thursday)

If you live in South Los Angeles and attend Jefferson High School, you have less than a 50 percent chance of graduating from the 12th grade…assuming you make it to the ninth grade at all. If you attend school at Crenshaw, the chances of finishing high school are 50/50. Those stats on the likelihood of graduating, come from a report recently released by the California Department of Education that examines the drop-out rate for students in grades nine through 12 during the 2006-07 academic year.

By Kristofer Noceda/Daily Review (Thursday)

If San Diego Unified were graded on its own school report cards, it would be docked points for tardiness. Report cards that detail test scores, expulsion rates, teacher salaries and a slew of other data on San Diego Unified schools were finished after the state deadline this summer, violating California law. But the lapse is unlikely to be noticed by parents. Few know that the reports exist. Much of the information they contain is available earlier elsewhere. And the reports are often so outdated that parents don’t use them for their intended purpose: to decide which schools their kids should attend.